Bill grew up in a family of seven. In 1980, his older brother Ken was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. Chemotherapy, radiation, and an autologous marrow transplant all failed to turn things around for him. Ken walked away from additional treatments, living on blood transfusions and antibiotics, finally succumbing to his leukemia in August 1983. Being the closest in age to Ken, Bill was deeply saddened by the loss.
In 1991 and in honor of Ken, Bill registered with the National Marrow Donor Program, believing something good would come of it and perhaps he could save a life in memory of his own family’s loss. In 1992 Bill learned that he was a match for an unknown patient also diagnosed with leukemia. He traveled to Bethesda, Maryland where doctors harvested bone marrow which was flown to the west coast almost immediately. Its recipient, Stephanie Rudat, had been in and out of hospital from the time she was 2 months old. The marrow transplant was a success and Bill and Stephanie met for the first time in 1993.
In June 2009, Bill surprised Stephanie when he attended her Katella High School graduation in Anaheim, CA. It was a momentous occasion that honored two wonderful, determined and successful people: his brother Ken, and high school graduate and leukemia survivor Stephanie.
